Project - Val

[schwartza3]

nice work
interested to see the air intake temp difference over stock

[IanPGonzaga]

Took some logs the other night and is very nice to see the intercooler doing a great job!

Old logs with SMIC

Logs with Wagner FMIC

and if you CBF clicking and reading, i'll give a rundown.

Basically did the pulls after logging other things so it would've been run 3 or 4 on both occasions. i picked similar weather conditions too - the SMIC ones being slightly colder.

• intake air temps w/SMIC maxes out at 48˚C @ 7000rpm
• intake air temps w/FMIC maxes out at 33˚C @ 7000rpm - reading the logs the temperature begins lowering by 2640rpm VS the side mount temperatures where they steadily climb up until 7k

[IanPGonzaga]

Ordered a bunch of parts for the suspension upgrade so while i'm waiting for that... onto a job i been caning to do since i got my sub


so this is what's going in - MBQuart RLP254 10"



Which calls for a small/tight response enclosure to be .4 cubic feet = 11.3267 L (or for flat response .65 cubic feet = 18.406 L). I've currently got a 12" in a small box sitting in the boot - now that's not very practical so want to make use of the space where the original sub was behind the boot trim



heres an aftermarket option that lets you put in an 8" sub. you can see there's still so much space around it that can be used... so i'm going to use it





To prep the area i went right up to the seat belt tensioner where i then walled off with some card roughly cut to the contour of the wheel arch (previous to masking the area up i also removed the gray carpet that covers the heavy padding on the wheel arch and hides wiring giving you sh|tloads of space)





I waited a couple hours between layer 1 & 2 and then waited for that to solidify and pulled it out. It was tight but got it out eventually by pulling from the flat part that covers the wheel arch. Should be strong enough that it can flex but won't break




i've got my 11L of packing peanuts ready for the volume test!




volume test




WIN!!! looks like it can EASILY fit 11L with plenty of room to spare. Doesn't even fill past the wheel arch which is the area that would give the most volume so subs that need a tad larger should be doable! Now to add strengthening layers then can work on how the sub will mount to the front.


Am feeling pretty confident about keeping the stock look!

[IanPGonzaga]

Bit of an update!





I found that A3's have this great setup from factory where there's a hole in the radiator support that then connects to the airbox. So i took all that from the wreckers and plan to have it all fitted in to replace the factory snorkel to the guard. Think it'll need tweaking as the extra hoses / sensors that the A3 doesn't have get in the way...

So the audio install got put on hold as i decided to say "fudge it" and get all this suspension gear on! Polybush EVERYTHING!



While all the bushes were being pushed out i installed the adjustable tie bars (bonus as these already came with polybush). Rubber mallet helped in getting these in and out as well as undoing the sub-frame bolt that gets in the way of removing the upper tie arm bolt.



Upper inner tie arms, rear control arm bush, dogbone bushes - these are all relatively easy to push in by hand as they are in halves and plenty of silicone lube comes in the packet. (i got the original rubber ones pushed out in a shop). The rear control arm bush i did in-situ with a drill, chisel/wedge/punch and hammer.


Superpro - bushes of choice, dogbone small end bush, eccentric/caster correcting rear LCA bushes


Swaybar bushes. this was annoying as i thought the factory swaybar size = 19mm. So i when i got it I was shocked to find that the fit is TIGHT and WRONG! Clearly not 19mm hole in there AND it is stamped on the bush as 21mm (didn't see this before ordering). So people... if you're doing this get a 21mm bush to save you from having to bore it out like i did and have blue smurf jizz everywhere!

Getting the bushes on are a bitch too! Them being nice and hard it's extremely difficult to hook the bracket in and get the bolts on. I was trying to be careful with the sprayed bits (don't ask... i just felt like spraying stuff LOL) but then got to a point where i was like "i don't care i just want to get these on". Ended up having to use two clamps on the driver's side bush to make the bolt holes line up!

Then i repainted the brackets AND the bolt... take that!!! LOL



Final piece of the puzzle - steering rack bush and making sure to press it all the way down to make it easier to locate the bolts.

[IanPGonzaga]

While all the suspension was out - i also did the coilovers to replace original parts as the car is on ~124k km's.



the assembly of the fronts (green box represents the top hat that sits under the nut you see from the engine bay)



Old VS> new. All still in pretty good condition minus the broken dust protector.



I didn't have the VAG tools to get the OEM stuff off and to replace the new kit. so a bit of DIY =
- vice grips
- 21mm socket / 22mm deep socket which i grinder down two opposing sides for the vice grips to hold on to
- 7mm allen key
- ratchet
- breaker bar



Rear end is a piece of cake compared to the front! Stock height is in the collage and then the dropped height (not yet settled) in the lower right pic. Love the colours of these things! Too bad they're hidden away.

I had them on the highest setting thinking "ah yeah they won't be too high" ummm... it was like 4x4 time! So all the way down they went!

[IanPGonzaga]

AND when the sub-frame was out... in goes a 3" downpipe.



The cat is the easy part to remove... broken bolts. Oops!



The downpipe not so easy. Did mine through removing the driver's driveshaft, driveshaft heat shield and was able to access the two bottom ones that way using the tiniest movements to undo the bolt. Once cracked the ratchet was only clicking once due to space restrictions. But it was one click at a time until the nuts came off



With subframe/ driveshaft off the bottom nuts are easily undone. Now the top one.... grrrr



I was super puzzled how to get the top nut undone but ended up using the 3/8" ratchet w/ universal joint and an extension. Thank F i was able to do it as it would've been heaps harder to take off the exhaust manifold.



Got it all off! woo! Needed to remove the bolt (below - the hex head) from behind the foot rest plate that connects the steering wheel to the steering rack to be able to lower the rack down enough to help remove the downpipe



Old VS. New (wish it would stay that clean)

and almost done...



This is before the steering rack is re-attached ^^^



All in!!!

Apologies for the whack photos... the forum software seems to rotate them on its own. 1st pic shows clearance from the steering rack heat shield, and other two photos are from the turbo, down at different angles

[IanPGonzaga]

Adding the finishing part to the undercarriage.



Some protection (in bluegerry flavour of course) to help keep ****e getting stuck in the grease.

Before this job I did have to undo the down pipe again as when I first put it on I tightened it while I pushed up on it. On bulging everything else up it was hitting the heat shield above causing a rattle on startup/reverse. So undid the driveshaft, drivshaft heatshield and the 3 nuts and it dropped itself down into perfect position and clearing the heatshield. So take note if you've got the 42DD downpipe to bolt it on as it sits on the turbo bolts and NOT to push up on it as it WILL clear everything once everything's back together.

I think that's all for under there! Everything feels great!!!

Coilovers - nice and smooth. Not harsh or anything like that. I went flown some bunny roads and yes. It's firm but not uncomfortable. You really feel it on turns. I point the car in a corner and it goes in. Hard. I think upgrading the the back sway bar has really made this possible as well! Most noticeable is no more body roll which I had on the stock suspension.

The difference the bushes have made? Well no more crackling noise/leaf stuck somewhere in my wheel area noise and I guess it's all helped to firm things up. I do not feel any vibrations or whatever that I've read about when people change the dog bone. I've changed both the big bushes and the round little one and vibrations are nil. This is still under 100km's when vibrations are usually felt.

The downpipe! Oh god the downpipe. Don't know why (or if it's just me imagining) things but it sounds like the induction noise has lessened even though I put a larger filter in there however the spool and sound when lifting the foot off the throttle is brilliant. Don't even know how to describe it. Also when I hit 3.5-4k Val pulls some kind of trick and pulls even harder!!!

Will log to see if there actually have been changes or if it's just because I've become accustomed to driving a 1.6L Civic.

Am proud as punch knowing the only thing I paid for installation wise was the bushes. Everything else was done manually. Not even pneumatic tools. So. Time to enjoy!!!

[bazzle]

Well done. Great info and steps

Bazzle

[IanPGonzaga]

Thanks bazzle 😁

[drucejnr]

Could be a mixture of your FMIC and DP which is causing the car to feel like all hell breaks loose when it comes on boost, which is a good thing!

I'm getting some similar work done over the next few weeks; finally installing my coilovers (Bilstein PSS)/bushing kit and getting a custom FMIC done too.